As I walked outside with Fiona, the 5 year old girl I babysat weekly, I glanced at the house next door. Last summer it had been completely empty. Abandoned. But now, it was filled with the sound of power drills, hammers pounding nails into wood, and the occasional grunt of a man working laboriously.
'Hmmm...' I thought 'I wonder who's rebuilding that old house?'
I understood it had been sold and was now being rebuilt for its new owners.
'I can't wait to see what it will look like when they're done.' I mused.
"Jade!" Fiona suddenly called as she tugged my hand "let's play "Do You Remember!""
"Do you remember" was a game we had invented together when I first started babysitting.
"Ah, good choice. Ok, let's sit on the patio and play."
We seated ourselves across from each other,  cross legged on the brick, with my back to the fence.
"Ok, do you remember when we found a mermaid in your swimming pool?" I asked.
"Oh that's fake!" She giggled in response.
Suddenly I noticed her gaze shift to something behind me.
"Look, Jade." She whispered, and pointed to the back porch of the house next door.
The fence between the two properties was rather short, and both yards were well within view of the other.
My curiosity aroused, I turned to see the edge of a white hat disappear behind the front wall of the porch.
I was a bit confused. Who had been watching us?
Deciding to ignore it, I faced Fiona again and started up our game once more. However, the same thing happened again and again.
Fiona would point and giggle, and I would turn, only to see the edge of a hat slide back behind the safety of a wall. Whoever was under the hat was far too quick for me to see their face.
A while later, while I was pushing Fiona on the swings, I saw a group of Amish people working in the opposite yard. They were the ones fixing up the house!
Suddenly I recognized a familiar white hat worn by one of the men. Wait, no. It wasn't a man, but a boy, about my age in fact.
He had brown, curly hair, with dark brown eyes to match. His complexion was brusque, yet he had a boyish grin. Under the shade of his hat, he looked a bit intimidating.
He noticed me, no doubt staring at him, and smiled. He made eye contact and held it for a full ten seconds before I finally broke away from his intense gaze. I had wanted to keep staring, to see how long he would stare back, but I was too shy to hold our gaze.
His father realized the boy was paying more attention to our side of the fence than his work, and scolded him.
"Jade, push me!" I heard Fiona's voice plead. Only then did I realize I had stopped my steady rhythm of swinging her higher and higher. She now sat on an almost perfectly still swing.
"Oh, Sorry Fiona." I said quickly, and resumed.
"Wheeeeeee!" She cried out gleefully as she regained speed.
I turned back to see if HE had been watching us again, but all the Amish had gone back inside, and that was all I saw of them that day.
Over the next few weeks, I often noticed that same boy watching us from a window, from the porch, or simply from the wide open yard. It was strange how sometimes he acted as if he wanted to stay hidden, while other times he planted himself somewhere where we couldn't miss him.
Eventually, I gained enough courage to wave. Yes, to wave. I know that doesn't seem like a major act of courage, but it was for me.
He saw my timid wave as I smiled at him and came to the edge of the fence.
"I figure since we keep seeing each other, I should introduce myself." He stated, and I recognized his accent. "I'm Amos."
"I'm Jade." I smiled and reached my hand over the fence to shake his. He seemed hesitant to accept my handshake, but eventually reached over and shook my extended hand. I hoped I hadn't gone against Amish custom. I mean, shaking hands with a GIRL? Was that allowed?
"Why do you come here only on Wednesday? Are you family?" He motioned to Fiona and her little brother, Alex.
"No," I replied "I just babysit once a week for them."
"Oh." He nodded his head in understanding.
We talked for a few minutes about how long they would be working on the house, how old we both were, about his Amish life, and about how different mine was.  But then, inevitably, he had to get back to work. After that all we could do was glance at each other and pretend like we weren't hoping to get the other's attention. This continued for a few more weeks, until they had completed their work on the house. Amos came to the edge of the fence again, and briefly told me that they were leaving.
"Goodbye." He waved "I hope to see you again maybe."
"Yes, me too." I agreed.
And that was the last time I saw any of them.